The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 480 - 469: Gift

Chapter 480: Chapter 469: Gift

Old Zhou fell silent. He tucked his smoking pipe into his waistband, got up, and took a few steps before he stopped, unable to proceed. After a long moment of thought, he finally gritted his teeth and crouched back down beside Manbao, "Fine, sell it then!"

He might just need to plant a bit more next year.

Manbao was overjoyed, knowing full well that planting more was impossible.

Old Zhou’s tobacco was usually just a small corner of the vegetable garden, not much, just twenty or thirty plants. He had thought about expanding the cultivation, but was too stingy to use the good crop land for tobacco since he was already satisfied with what he grew to curb his cravings.

Even if there were smokers in the town, there weren’t many. The tobacco leaves Old Zhou sold had their regular buyers, and growing more meant he wouldn’t be able to smoke it all or sell it.

Therefore, he never considered growing tobacco to make money.

Secondly, Ms.Qian disdained his tobacco. The fact that he was able to carve out such a small plot in the vegetable garden to grow his tobacco was the result of many repeated requests.

The thought of expanding was nothing but a dream.

So Manbao knew, next year, her father would only be able to grow that much tobacco.

While this somewhat curbed Old Zhou’s pace of building his private savings and might result in a long time before he could repay what he owed her, Manbao was still very happy.

After he agreed, Manbao ran to the bed to feel around for the five taels of silver she had played with and forgotten to collect into the system the previous night, and handed it to her father.

Only then did Old Zhou’s eyes crease into a smile, repeatedly assuring her with joy, "I will definitely work hard to earn money and pay you back."

Manbao looked at her father with sympathy and nodded, "Dad, in a while I’ll have Second Brother go get your tobacco leaves, remember to collect them and give them to him, okay?"

Old Zhou’s smile stiffened as he asked, "Give them to your Second Brother?"

"Yes, let Second Brother help you sell them."

"No!" Old Zhou started to explain anxiously upon seeing Manbao’s stern gaze: "I’m going into town anyway, so it’s better I sell them myself. I know who usually buys the tobacco leaves."

After some thought, Manbao nodded, "Alright then."

Old Zhou heaved a sigh of relief, deciding he could cut himself a little slack this time.

Ms.Qian stood in the courtyard and frowned as she asked Junior Ms.Qian, "It’s so early in the morning. Where’s your father?"

Junior Ms.Qian was startled and replied, "I haven’t seen Dad."

"And Manbao? At this hour, she should be over for breakfast and heading to school, right?"

Looking at the dawn light, Junior Ms.Qian smiled, "She must be tired from yesterday. I reckon there’s still time. Let her sleep a bit more."

Ms.Qian thought for a moment and didn’t object.

Just then, she looked up to see Old Zhou leading a beaming Manbao from their small courtyard.

Seeing the messy buns on her daughter’s head, Ms.Qian couldn’t help but feel dismayed, "Manbao, who did your hair for you?"

"My dad did." Manbao had already checked it in the water scoop and thought it looked fine. She ran over, bouncing and jumping, and even proudly shook her head, asking, "Mom, does it look good?"

What’s good about it? It looks fine from the front, but look at the side, and the back...

Ms.Qian simply pulled the child over to comb her hair anew,

Junior Ms.Qian watched with a faint smile and turned to go to the kitchen to prepare her breakfast.

Then, when Manbao got home from school, she received a copper mirror as a gift.

The copper mirror was from Junior Ms.Qian, who had asked Zhou ErLang to bring it back from the town especially that morning, spending all of her private savings on it.

Indeed, just as Zhou Dalang saved his private money, Junior Ms.Qian naturally had her own private savings as well.

She set up the copper mirror on Manbao’s desk, "You don’t have a vanity, so just place it here. Be careful not to knock it over."

It wasn’t Manbao’s first time using a copper mirror since her mother and sisters-in-law all had one, but it was the first time she saw such a new one.

Moreover, it was hers alone.

Manbao was incredibly fascinated.

Junior Ms.Qian let down her hair and taught her to comb it herself, "You are a young lady now, you won’t have to shave your head anymore and your hair is gradually growing back, so you’ll need to learn to comb it yourself. With a mirror, you can see to make sure you’re not leaving it all messy without realizing."

Junior Ms.Qian taught her hairstyles appropriate for her age and the simplest ones to ensure she could do her hair by herself before she left.

As soon as she left, Daya, Erya, and Sanya all slipped in together. They clustered around their little aunt to view the copper mirror, gasping in amazement.

Seeing the envy in their eyes, Manbao asked, "Do you all want one too?"

Daya nodded, "But my mom said, since we don’t go to school or need to go out to meet guests, we can use hers for now. She’ll buy us each one when we’re ready to talk about marriage."

Erya and Sanya also nodded in agreement, obviously their moms had said the same.

Manbao, however, made a note of it in her mind.

Her dad was buying a gift for her mom, and her sister-in-law had given her a gift, so she would buy gifts for everyone too.

Because receiving gifts felt so nice.

What a pity, though, all the myriad thoughts of Manbao were in vain since Mr. Zhuang wasn’t planning on giving them any holiday recently.

After the initial excitement, Mr. Zhuang’s classes for them had gone through a process of being intensified - further intensified - touching the bottom line - lightened - further lightened - then intensified again.

Eventually, Mr. Zhuang seemed to have found a balance. Lately, their classes covered much more knowledge than before, yet they weren’t as painful as the previous period.

Both Manbao and Bai Shanbao adjusted to the new pace very quickly, even Bai Erlang had adapted to Mr. Zhuang’s current teaching speed.

Though the daily assignments seemed to have lightened compared to the previous period, Mr. Zhuang still wouldn’t give them a break.

As he put it, with the summer harvest and the autumn harvest coming, who knew what might interrupt their lessons?

So he had to teach them as much as he could while there was no interruption.

Therefore, Manbao couldn’t possibly go into town to buy gifts. She could only watch her father sneaking off to the town to buy a silver bracelet and bring it back.

Why did she know her father had brought it back?

Because Old Zhou returned the remaining money to her. He was very honest; he had borrowed five taels from her, and then returned two taels and seventy-eight wen.

Old Zhou wasn’t great with arithmetic, but he had already asked Datou to help him calculate in advance, so he knew exactly how much he still owed Manbao, "I sold most of the tobacco leaves for six hundred eighty wen, and with my private savings, after the five taels, this is all that’s left. I’m giving it all back to you, and I still owe you..."

"Two taels and nine hundred twenty-two wen."

Old Zhou blinked, that was a little different from what Datou had calculated, it seemed a bit less.

"Dad, we’re family. It’s fine if you pay me back in copper coins. I’ll consider one tael as a hundred strings of cash."

Old Zhou was delighted, "Really?"

"Really, can you show me the silver bracelet?"

"That won’t do. Wait until I give it to your mother, then you can see it," Old Zhou said. "Your mother hasn’t even seen it yet, how can you?"

Manbao felt a bit disappointed, she had wanted to use that as a reference. It seemed she could only wait until her father gave it away before she could see it.

The wait turned out to be seven or eight days long. Just when Manbao was about to pop with anticipation, Old Zhou finally slipped the silver bracelet onto his wife’s wrist on a night graced with a gentle moonlight.

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